42 Questions to Answer Prior to Designing and Developing Your Company Website

by Laughing Cat

You have decided your company needs a website or a company website makeover, so what’s next? Spend some time researching answers for the following questions. Answering these questions for your business prior to shopping for a web designer and developer, will make it easier to select one.

Setup Logistics

Do you have a website (domain) name? Did you or someone else register the domain name? Do you have control over the domain?
Do you have hosting? If so, what is your current hosting company and do you have access to the web server?
If you currently have a website, are you in touch with the original website designer and developer?

Website Content and Website Design

Who is your audience?
What is your primary message?
Is your content complete? If not, who will be responsible for content creation and under what timeframe can you expect the content to be complete?
Do you have a logo? What format is it in?
Do you have the hex value for your current company colors?
Do you have photos you need to use? Are these photos optimized and sized for website design?
Describe the style of website you are looking for. Is this a brochure site, or a blog?
If you have a catalog or brochure, would you like the website to be consistent with the look and feel of those marketing pieces?
Will you be providing creative direction or will you expect creative direction to come from your web designer?
If you currently have a website, what do you like about the site and what do you hate about the site? When is the last time the site was updated and why?
Who are your competitors and what are their website addresses?
What are several websites you like?

Website Development

What do you need your website to do?
Do you have any specifications?
Is there any specific functionality you need?
How many pages do you need?
Do you need an image gallery?
How does your company handle email?
Do you have a newsletter?
Do you need any password protected areas?
Do you need ecommerce?
Do you need the website to tie into any particular 3rd party applications?
Do you need a contact form?

Execution

What is your time frame and budget?
Does the site launch need to coincide with a product launch or any other important milestone?

Site Marketing

Do you need social media tools built in, like Facebook, Twitter, Digg, Stumble Upon, etc.
How familiar are you with search engine optimization?
How will you market your site offline?
How do people find your current website?
How important is search engine ranking to you?

Site Maintenance

How are you going to maintain the site?
How often do you need to update the site?
Do you need a content management system?
Will several people be editing the site?
Will your IT person be involved?
What software do you have?
Are you or anyone on your staff familiar with HTML and CSS?
Do you or anyone on your staff have Photoshop or other image editing software?
Will you want or need help in making changes? If so, would you need help routinely?

Answering the above questions will give you a great start in designing and developing your company website. Feel free to contact Laughing Cat Studios at (205) 533-9050 for a consult! We’d love to work with you on the design and development of a fabulous site for your company.